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Occidental Named One of Country's Best

August 21, 2009

Occidental College has been named one of the country's best colleges in the latest editions of several major college guides, including U.S. News & World Report, Princeton Review's The Best 371 Colleges, the Fiske Guide to Colleges, Barron's Guide to the Most Competitive Colleges, The Insider's Guide to the Colleges and ISI's Guide to the Right Colleges.

For the seventh consecutive year, Occidental was ranked a "Best Value" school by U.S. News, and was again was recognized by the Insider's Guide as one of a handful of colleges and universities with the strongest undergraduate focus. Fiske bestowed four-star academic and quality-of-life ratings on Oxy, and Princeton Review gave Oxy's Financial Aid Office a score of 96 out of 100.

Occidental was ranked No. 33 by U.S. News among the country's best liberal arts colleages, up from No. 37 last year. Once again, Occidental was ranked third in diversity among nationally ranked liberal arts colleges, behind Swarthmore and Wellesley. Occidental's diversity is multifaceted, the Insider's Guide points out: "Oxy provides diversity not only in the student body, but also in the breadth of academic options, the expansive extracurricular opportunities, and the great resources of Los Angeles that make the school unique."

All of the guides draw heavily on the comments of current students and recent graduates. Here's a small sampling of what they had to say:

  • "Combine sunny weather with big-city opportunities, amazing professors, a gorgeous campus, and an emphasis on diversity, and you get Oxy!" -- Princeton Review
  • "The professors are the best part about Oxy ... I still keep in touch with my professors, all the time, and they're still there for me two and a half years after I graduated. I have a couple of professors to thank for helping me get the job I have now, as an assistant producer at National Public Radio." -- Barron's
  • "Occidental provides an academically challenging environment. I was pleasantly surprised at how much my professors challenged me, pushing me to grow intellectually." -- Fiske
  • "I love my alma mater and I would not trade the time I spent there for anything in the world. I met the closest friends of my life there, and I stay in touch with most of my professors." -- ISI Guide
  • "The Oxy community is really open and friendly. It's a small enough community that even with total strangers you're almost guaranteed to have mutual friends, and there's a lot of overlapping in social circles." -- Insider's Guide